In recent years, with the advent of networked business machines, a plurality of client computers commonly use a single print apparatus connected to a network in an office. In such use environment, a third party may remove or take a look at output prints without authorization. Such situation poses a problem in case of a print process to be done while assuring security, e.g., when confidential information or private information which must be kept confidential from any third party is to be printed.
As a method of solving the aforementioned problem, the following technique has been proposed (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 8-39898, 8-83153, and 9-65148).
A printer driver which submits a password in addition to print job data is installed on a client computer, and an instruction of a print process is issued to a print apparatus using this printer driver.
Upon reception of the print job data and password, the print apparatus temporarily saves these print job data and password data in its internal storage medium in place of immediately starting a print job.
When the user wants to control the print apparatus to print according to this print job data, he or she uses a user interface equipped on the print apparatus to display a print job list on the user interface, selects a print job to be printed from the displayed job list, and inputs a password. Only when the input password matches the password stored in the storage medium, the print apparatus starts a print process according to this print job data. The user can receive a target confidential document without being looked at or stolen by a third party, since he or she is already in front of the print apparatus.
With the above method, the print apparatus must have a storage medium with a certain capacity. As a method that does not require any storage medium with a certain capacity in the print apparatus, a method of preparing a print server, and temporarily saving print job data in the print server is available (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 0.11-296327).
More specifically, for example, the user mounts an IC card on a client computer, saves an ID in the IC card, and submits print job data to the print server in a print process. Upon completion of submission of the print job data to the print server, the user goes to the location of the print apparatus and mounts the IC card on the print apparatus. The print apparatus acquires the ID from the mounted IC card, downloads a print job with that ID from the print server, and prints according to that print job. The user can receive a target confidential document without being looked at or stolen by a third party, since he or she is already in front of the print apparatus. Also, since the print job need not be saved in the print apparatus, no storage medium with a certain capacity is required.
When a print job flows through the network, it may be illicitly received or copied. As a method that can cope with such case, a method in which a print job is encrypted and submitted, and the print apparatus that received the encrypted print job decrypts that job by inputting, e.g., a password is disclosed (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-134264).
However, in any of the aforementioned prior arts, after the password is input, and the print process of the print job data temporarily saved in the storage medium in the print apparatus starts, the print process itself of the print job read out from the storage medium after the password input is handled as a normal print job in the same manner as that of a print job which can be printed without any password input. That is, a print job that requires an authentication process (e.g., password input) is handled in a different way from a print job that does not require any authentication process (e.g., such print job is held in a storage medium) until its print job starts. However, once the print process has started, such print job is processed in the same manner as the print job that does not require any authentication process.
However, such method poses the following problem.
When a trouble that interrupts a print process has occurred during the print process (e.g., when an out-of-paper error has occurred or when a print sheet has jammed in the print apparatus), the user must attend to such trouble. After the trouble has been removed (e.g., after the user has replenished print sheets or has removed the jamming print sheet), the print process restarts. However, in such case, the print process restarts irrespective of print jobs which require or do not require password input (authentication process). Hence, even in a print job which requires an authentication process for the purpose of assuring security, the security of prints has already been jeopardized at that time.